An enquiry in the ethical challenges facing data-driven firms

 Intro

There is an increasing dilemma when it comes how data is collected. It is easy to see why when many writers have said that we have created more data in the last two years that we have in all of human history. The old saying is that knowledge equals power and with great power comes great responsibility. Teachnology in itself is becoming less of a competitive advantage as the latest tech is so assessable. This means the way the way to gain an advantage is with the use of data and becoming “data driven” Data is king and organisations are finding new ways of getting it, often in ways that people are not aware off. One does not need to go far to find someone who is convinced that their device is listening to their conversations for example. 

 

How has this data collection happened?

Data has gotton out of control for many reasons but one big reason is that people had and still don’t understand how their data is collected. Many companies offer people terms and conditions are too long to realistically to read. This means that people are agree to having their data collected without their consent. People also have not realised how every click they make on social media is collected and every search they make on google is building up their profile to the point where companies like Facebook and Google understand people getter than their friends and family do. Mobile phones have GPS trackers in them. While this is useful when you get lost we are also surrounding our privacy as without GPS on and there we use the internet, we are telling companies about everywhere we go and when. The majority of free tools that we use to make our lives easier are costing us privacy and control over our lives. 

 

What issues are out there? 

There are many issues and quite frankly there are too many discuss. There are issues such as data privacy. What if your patient record is accessed? Why does google earth have the right to photograph my house, what democratic liberties are we giving up, how can the products we buy and the way we vote be manipulated? Can our own data be used against us in term of getting insurance? Can we nudge people to behave the way we want them too? How is our social media data been used to manipulate our opinions an feelings on topics? Is it okay to create a product that will benefit socier=ty at a whole even if it destroys some individuals privacy?

 

Why is this an issue?/ Why is this unethical?

All of these issues could together be a book so this piece the remaining of this answer will focus on political manipulation and customer lock in by MyHeritage and Adobe. 

 

Political manipulation is is perhaps the most prominent ethical issue around data in 2020 and how things are designed is that of fake news and how people are getting manipulated. Only since 2016 has the impact of Cambridge Analytica started to become widely known and have the public become really conscious of how data and what we see online can be manipulated. 

 

It is reported that the company played a huge in the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit campaign. It is said primarily by the Guardian and a Netflix documentary “The Great Hack” that online users were targeted due to their social media activity as prime subjects for manipulation. It was reported that Cambridge Analytica had 5000 data points on each person in the USA. They used this data to target swing voters to get them to vote for Trump and to paint his opponent Hillary Clinton in a negative light. For example, creating memes calling her a “crook” with the oo in the picture of a handcuff and starting the “lock her up” campaign. 

 

It would appear from this example, that people are being manipulated by what they see on social media and it is these companies that decide what people see. This is also the case with Google. If two people make the same search query on Google they will not get the same results.  Google is many people’s primary source of searching information. Yet, an algorithm decides what people get to see and what they don’t. People are not getting the whole story or any station.

 

Social media websites in particular are slowing people information that they know they will click on and what they agree with. This is because they want people to enjoy their time on the website, spend more time there so they can get to know them better and sell them more products. But this gives people tunnel vision and a very narrow pool of information. This is dangerous because if we only see things we agree with, this will only justify our own views to ourselves and make people incapable of critical thinking and changing their views. 

 

Creating fake news is not the only issue. Countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary and slowly losing access to their right to information. In Turkey, Wikipedia was banned for three three years to stop citizens getting access to information. Youtube was also banned. It is important to remember people can be manipulated using their personal information but they can also be manipulated by losing access to information. 

 

What can be done to fight this unethical use of data?

The future and continued impacts of social media do worry me. People are addicted to their devices and naturally want to connect with others. If anything, the current covid-19 crises will push people more and more to social media. Everyone and young people in particular need to be thought the important of following different views. This means avoiding getting yourself into an echo chamber. For example, if someone is interested in American politics they should follow both democratic and republican voices, or Labor and the Conservatives in the UK and in we have three big parties and a few smaller ones. I think we need to be educated on critical thinking as much as we do in math, English or physics from a very young age. The ability to question things, to look for data and know when data is being misrepresented are vital skills to truly have an understanding. These principles need to be pushed to avoid extreme views in our societies and to avoid people getting taken advantage of. If this is not done, unethical behavior will continue. 

 

Examples

GRPR is a start to protecting people in term of protecting their data and their pricacy. I personally don’t see companies going out of their way to helpp people and they will take advantage of people. Companies like MyHeritage make it nearly impossible to leave their expensive service as they make getting your data off the website very difficult and promise to delete your family tree if you don’t pay up. They have videos showing you how to do it but it does not work and personally any contact I have had with them was only to offer me a reduced fee rather than allowing me to save my data and take it off the website. Another company who takes advantage from my own experiences is Adobe. 

 

Adobe a company keen to be seen as ethical as we learned in class, but last year they doubled the price of their Photoshop product to €25 a month without much warning and again make it very difficult to leave their service unless you have used it for over a year at the higher price. Thye know they can do this due to the lack of genuine competition but the move puts many low paid creators and content creators on the brink of financial ruin and unable to produce their art. A 50% pay rise for the same service and threating to delete users cloud storage with their work unless they don’t pay up is very unethical. I personally think companies say the right thing to have a good image but in reality, they will take advantage whenever they can. 

 

Summary 

Education and laws such as GRPR  key to stop companies  and political  parties using people’s data against them. When one looks at how the Stasi in East Germany in the past and the Chinese government are being used to control people and deny them freedom, laws and education around data and technology need to keep people’s freedoms in mind. GDPR is a start but there is still mush more to do. 

 

We as a society need to demand control over our data and have the access to information and be given the skills to ritually analyze what we see and read. Laws need to be put in place to protect people and companies who do not avail need to be shamed and avoided. Companies can and should be ethical on these issues but it is unlikely that it will happen in my view.